Chatper 351


    Chapter 0351


    I couldn’t think clearly when faced with such an obvious threat. My protective instincts kicked into high


    gear. I would do anything to protect those closest to me. But Piper was close


    to me to.


    I swallowed hard. “I care about Piper.”


    The King’s demeanor had shifted. Maybe he could see the hesitation in me, where I had been so firm


    before, and softened in response.


    “You are a prince. Someday, you may very well be a king. Those feelings won’t mean anything in the


    end. Everything is secondary to your duty.”


    His words cracked through my heart until it blistered. I knew what he meant. Even if I cared for Piper, I


    would never be able to marry her. Unlike the others, she hadn’t been trained since birth to be a


    queen. She’d probably hate the job, even if it meant we could be together.


    Piper and I would have to part ways eventually. Shouldn’t it be now? When I could help protect my


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    family and my kingdom with the choice?


    I didn’t know what to do. I was worse than torn, I was agonized.


    “I’ll give you time to think it over, but I expect your agreement in the morning,” the King said.


    I nodded, numb. Then I walked the halls like a ghost, my lost in the riptide of my thoughts. I weighed


    every option, but the inner debate mostly came down to my feelings for Piper versus everything else. I


    still wasn’t ready to decide.


    Hourster, as dawn broke, and sunlight crept up above the tree line, I watched from one of the hallway


    windows as the protesters began to assemble again. Many had been there all night.


    Soft footsteps approached me. I didn’t have to look to know it was my mother.


    “Did father send you?” I asked.


    She took vigil beside me, and watched out the window as I did.


    –


    “He told me what happened,” she said in a soft, soothing voice more motherly than she’d sounded


    since before thispetition began. “I’m worried about you.”


    She was never the most feeling of mothers, at least outwardly, but I had never doubted her love. It was


    only when the contest started that she delved too deeply into it, focusing on finding the perfect bride for


    her sons rather than remembering they needed support too.


    With how little she had said to me in the past months it wasn’t that I thought she hated me. She was my


    mother, and that bond was strong. I just thought she didn’t like me very


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    Honestly, I hadn’t much cared for how she was acting, either. Maybe it was a two–way street. Maybe I


    kept my distance too.


    “I know you want to do the right thing,” my mother said. “And that the right thing may seem unclear to


    you now, especially because of your feelings for that girl.”


    That girl, said with such distain. “Her name is Piper.”


    The Luna sighed and her voice regained its softness. Yet now that I’d seen the crack, I was suspicious


    of it. Of her.


    “I understand your dilemma, Nichs, but… you must understand that continue seeing that


    Piper, puts her at risk too. Her and her little girl.


    I looked at her sideways. Her face was doing what it should, showing the correct amount of concern.


    Maybe I imagined the distain I had thought I heard.


    “They could so easily be caught in the middle of this,” she said. “They might even be hurt in an effort to


    affect you.”


    “The people love Piper.”


    “They do, for now. But how often does public opinion sway. How quickly can it drop?” She motioned


    toward the protesters beyond the window. I looked too, and that’s when I saw it.


    A sign with Piper’s face on it. Her eyes were x’ed out. 2)


    The text below it read, TRAITOR.